I think one of the best parts of The Road to El Dorado is when Miguel and Julio set off to follow the map to the legendary lost City of Gold. Their journey is told through a travel montage as the pair sing about all of the amazing things they’re going to do as they blaze a trail to El Dorado.

Look out new world here we come
Brave, intrepid and then some
Pioneers of maximum
Audacity whose resumes
Show that we are just the team
To live where others merely dream
Building up a head of steam
On the trail we blaze

Changing legend into fact
We shall ride into history
Turning myth into truth
We shall surely gaze
On the sweet unfolding
Of an antique mystery
All will be revealed
On the trail we blaze

Paradise is close at hand
Shangri-la the promised land
Seventh heaven on demand
Quite unusual nowadays
Virgin vistas, undefiled
Minds and bodies running wild
In the man behold the child
On the trail we blaze

During the song, the story sees how Julio goes from being a complete skeptic in the existence of El Dorado to a total believer as they encounter sign after sign that corresponds to the map they’ve been following. It’s also funny to see all the bad things happening to Julio during the journey (leeches, being bit in the rear by a piranha), while all the cool stuff (mostly) happens to Miguel.

The trail we blaze
Is a road uncharted
Through terra incognita to a golden shrine
No place for the traveler
To be faint-hearted
We are part of the sumptuous grand design

Changing legend into fact
We shall ride into history
Turning myth into truth
We shall surely gaze on the sweet unfolding
Of an antique mystery
All will be revealed
On the trail we blaze
On the trail we blaze

Also, I completely forgot that there is straight up nudity in this sequence! Granted we only see Miguel and Julio from the backside, but there’s absolutely nothing blocking the view of said backside during the seconds they’re in view. It just totally caught me off guard because I wasn’t expecting it.

Rewatching this segment reminds me why I liked this film so much the first time I saw it nineteen years ago (holy crap I feel old just typing that out). This song serves as a perfect transition from Miguel and Julio’s arrival to the New World to their proper introduction to El Dorado.

What do you think of “On the Trail We Blaze”? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!

See also:

The Road to El Dorado “It’s Tough to Be a God” (2000)

Disney/Dreamworks/Pixar/etc. Soundtracks A-Z

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